How to migrate from Gmail's web app without losing your filters

Switching email clients feels risky mostly because of one fear: losing years of filters and labels. You built those rules over time. Recreating them by hand sounds like a weekend lost.

The good news: most of what you built in Gmail lives on the server, not in the browser tab. Here is what survives a move to a desktop client like STAMP automatically, and what you need to set up again by hand.

What carries over automatically

Gmail stores labels and applied filter actions as IMAP folders and flags on the account itself, not inside the web app. When you connect the same Gmail account to STAMP over IMAP or OAuth, these come across without any extra work:

1. Labels. Every label you created shows up as a folder. Nested labels (Work/Clients) map to nested folders.
2. Already-applied labels on existing mail. If a filter tagged 400 old emails "Receipts," those 400 emails still carry that label after the move.
3. Starred and important markers. These sync as IMAP flags.
4. Archive state. Anything archived in Gmail stays out of the inbox view in STAMP too.
5. Read/unread status. Syncs both ways, so marking something read in STAMP marks it read in Gmail's web app if you still open it.

None of this requires reconfiguration. Connect the account, let the initial sync finish, and your organizational history is there.

What needs manual setup

Gmail's filter rules, the logic that says "when a message arrives from this sender, apply this label and skip the inbox," live in Gmail's own settings, not in the IMAP protocol. IMAP has no concept of "if this, then that." That logic runs on Google's servers before a message ever reaches your client.

This means:

1. Existing filters keep working exactly as before, as long as you leave the Gmail account active. Gmail keeps applying labels and skipping the inbox server-side. Your desktop client just sees the result.
2. New filter rules still need to be created in Gmail's own filter settings, not in STAMP. Go to Gmail Settings → Filters and Blocked Addresses to add or edit them. STAMP reads what Gmail already decided, it does not replace Gmail's filtering engine.
3. Forwarding rules and auto-replies are also server-side Gmail settings. They keep running independent of what client you use to read mail.
4. Client-side rules you may have set in the Gmail web app (like snippet templates or the "nudge" reminders) do not have an IMAP equivalent. STAMP has its own version of some of these (S for snooze, for instance), so check the changelog for what has shipped.

The actual migration steps

1. Download STAMP and confirm you are on Apple Silicon and macOS 15.1 or later.
2. Open STAMP and choose "Add Account," then Gmail.
3. Sign in with OAuth. STAMP never sees or stores your Google password, only a token scoped to mail access.
4. Wait for the initial sync. A large mailbox (50,000+ messages) can take a few minutes depending on your connection.
5. Confirm labels appear as folders in the sidebar and that a handful of known-labeled emails show the right tag.
6. Leave your Gmail filters exactly where they are. Do not delete them, they are still doing the work.
7. If you relied on a Gmail add-on or Apps Script for custom automation, note that STAMP does not run Gmail add-ons. Check whether the same task can be done with STAMP's own rules or shortcuts instead.

Common gotchas

A few things trip people up on the first day:

• Google Workspace accounts sometimes require an admin to allow third-party app access before OAuth will complete. If sign-in fails immediately, that is the first thing to check with your Workspace admin.
• Multiple Gmail accounts. Each one connects separately. STAMP unifies the inbox view, but each account keeps its own filters on Google's side.
• Aliases (send-as addresses). These need to be re-added in STAMP's compose settings even though the underlying Gmail account already has them configured.
• Two-factor prompts. If Google flags the new sign-in as unusual, approve it from your phone, this is expected on first connect.

Why this matters

The filters live where the mail lives, on Gmail's servers. A client is a window onto that mailbox, not a replacement for it. That is why moving to STAMP does not mean starting from zero. It means the same mail, the same organization, viewed through an interface that surfaces what needs a reply today instead of everything at once.

If you decide later that STAMP is not for you, the reverse is also true: nothing you set up in Gmail changes, and switching back is just as fast.

Bring your inbox as it is. hello@stamp.email